"The idea of excentrics and epicycles on which the theories of Hipparchus and Ptolemy are based has been often ridiculed... But De Morgan has acutely observed that in so far as the ancient astronomers supposed that it was necessary to resolve every celestial motion into a series of uniform circular motions they erred greatly... as a convenient way of expressing known facts, it is not only legitimate but convenient. It was as good a theory as with their instruments and knowledge it was possible to frame, and... it exactly corresponds to the expression of a given function as a sum of sines or cosines, a method... of frequent use in... analysis."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_trigonometry
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
History of trigonometry
begins with the early study of triangles, traced to the , in () and . Trigonometry was also prevalent in Kushite mathematics.
130 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by History of trigonometry →
Related Quotes
"Similarly to the spread of the Indian place-value system, Indian trigonometry came to Europe via the Arab world, for …"
"[I]n 1575 Western Europe had recovered most of the major mathematical works of antiquity now extant. Arabic algebra h…"
"At its higher levels the golden age of Muslim civilization was both an immense scientific success and a exceptional r…"
"As in the rest of mathematical sciences, so in trigonometry, were the Arabs pupils of the Hindus…"
"Chapter X., which follows, is on the obliquity of the ecliptic... The next, XI., XII. contain spherical geometry and …"
"Euler wrote... Introductio in Analysin infinitorum, 1748, which was intended to serve as an introduction to pure anal…"
"The development of Indian trigonometry, based on sine as against chord of the Greeks was another of 's achievements w…"
"The second part of the book... contains an exposition of the first principles of the theory of complex quantities; hi…"
"The idea of the logarithm probably had its source in the use of... trigonometric formulas that transformed multiplica…"
"Isaac Newton... went to school at Grantham and in 1661 came up as a subsizar to Trinity. ...He had not read any mathe…"